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Over 500,000 Underground Storage Tank Releases Cleaned Up

December 1, 2021

This just in from EPA. In the span of my 34 years in the UST world, we’ve completed a half million leaking UST site cleanups. A major milestone. – Ben

Dear UST Colleagues:

I am writing to tell you about EPA’s announcement that over 500,000 underground storage tank (UST) releases have been cleaned up.

Over 500,000 Underground Storage Tank Releases Cleaned Up

I am excited to announce that, as of the end of September 2021, EPA and our underground storage tank  partners over the last 33 years cleaned up 502,786 petroleum releases from UST systems. This is an impressive accomplishment for the national UST program, and I want to thank our state, territorial, tribal, and industry partners whose hard work and dedication made surpassing 500,000 cleanups possible.

The milestone of cleaning up 502,786 petroleum UST releases over the past 33 years represents almost 90 percent of total historic reported releases. Surpassing one-half million UST releases cleaned up means this significant proportion of petroleum releases in our country no longer pose a threat of harmful contamination to the public’s health and our soil and groundwater, furthering EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment.

Cleaning up UST petroleum releases also provides many important benefits. Cleanups ensure releases no longer pose a threat to the public’s health and our soil and groundwater. Cleaned up release sites also provide opportunities for community-based economic revitalization through land reuse and redevelopment, which increases land productivity.

Even though UST releases exist in thousands of United States communities, many of those releases are in economically distressed communities and burdens are disproportionately distributed to these communities. Cleaning up UST releases furthers the Administration’s commitment to environmental justice. EPA and our partners are committed to preventing and cleaning up UST releases equitably in United States communities.

Despite EPA and our partners’ best prevention efforts, each year thousands of new UST releases are reported, and they add to our backlog, which is now 61,981 releases remaining to be cleaned up.  As we tackle the releases remaining, we will rely on best practices used so far and implement new strategies to achieve continued progress. We will be mindful of the effects of climate change, such as the potential of increased flooding and elevated wildfire threats, and we will share information to help owners prepare for and recover from those natural disasters.

 

The national UST program will continue to rely on the strengths of our partners and our collective commitment to keeping our soil and groundwater safe for people living in the United States.  Thank you, again, to all our partners — states, territories, tribes, and industry — for your dedication and accomplishments in cleaning up UST releases, which means we are protecting our environment and the public’s health.

For more information about cleaning up over 500,000 UST releases, see

https://www.epa.gov/ust/national-ust-program-cleans-over-500000-ust-releases.

I sincerely thank our implementing partners for their support and efforts in cleaning up over 500,000 petroleum UST releases, in addition to implementing the 2015 UST requirements. This continues to be a difficult time as we deal with challenges related to Covid-19, and I commend your resilience and dedication. Thank you to everyone who provided information and conducted a quality assurance and quality control review of the numbers reported. If you have questions about the report, please contact me or Susan Burnell at [email protected] or 202-564-0766.

 

Mark Barolo
Acting Director
Office of Underground Storage Tanks
US EPA

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